DITA 2.0 preview support

DITA-OT 3.5

DITA-OT 3.5 provided an initial preview of DITA 2.0 features.

• The new <include> element can be used to reference text or XML content from other files. In addition to the processing mandated by the specification, DITA-OT also supports the character set definition and line range extraction options previously provided for <coderef> elements (see Extended codeblock processing).

• The new @specializations attribute, which replaces the DITA 1.x @domains attribute, can now be used as an alternative method of declaring specialized attributes.

• The @outputclass attribute can now be specified as a flagging behavior in DITAVAL files. This allows you to flag an element with a CSS class keyword that will be added to the @class attribute value in the generated HTML. Output classes allow you to pick up pre-defined styles from existing web frameworks, and are more easily overridden with custom CSS files than the inline @style attributes generated by DITA 1.x flagging options such as @color and @backcolor.

• Titles can now be specified on simple tables, and <simpletable> entries now support row and column spanning attributes.

• Where DITA 1.x defined conflicting @class values for <linktext>, <shortdesc>, and <searchtitle> in maps and topics, the new draft of DITA 2.0 uses the topic-based @class value in all cases. Processing is updated to recognize the updated value when these elements are used in maps.

DITA-OT 3.6

DITA-OT 3.6 added support for additional DITA 2.0 features.

• Where earlier DITA versions relied on the <object> element to embed media in DITA source files, DITA 2.0 provides new <audio> and <video> elements that correspond to their HTML5 equivalents.

• For HTML5 compatibility, the new emphasis domain adds support for the <strong> and <em> elements in addition to the existing <b> and <i> elements in the highlighting domain.

• The troubleshooting domain has been updated with additional constructs that can be used to provide detailed diagnostic information.

• Several obsolete elements and attributes have been removed from DITA 2.0, including:

  • <boolean>

  • <data-about>

  • <indextermref>

  • @alt on <image>

  • @navtitle on <topicref>

  • @query on <topicref>

  • @refcols on <simpletable>

  • @xtrc

  • @xtrf

DITA-OT 3.7

DITA-OT 3.7 added support for additional DITA 2.0 features.

• The new “combine” chunk action can be used to merge content into new output documents.

  When the @chunk attribute is set to combine on a map, branch, or map reference, all source DITA documents grouped by that reference will be combined into a single document in the output.

  (Support for the DITA 2.0 “split” chunk action has not yet been implemented.)

  Note: The new chunk action is only applied if the root map has a DITA 2.0 doctype, such as:

  <!DOCTYPE map PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA 2.0 Map//EN" "map.dtd">

  If the root map uses an unversioned (or 1.x) doctype, DITA 1.3 processing will be applied, and 2.0 chunk actions will be ignored. With a 2.0 root map, any 1.3 chunk actions are ignored.

• The new <keytext> element can be used to define variable text referenced by @keyref. Although the DITA 2.0 grammar files in this release support the use of <keytext> in authored files, DITA-OT 3.7 does not yet have processing support for the element.

• The new alternative titles domain and <titlealt> element (separate from the <titlealts> element in DITA 1.3) may be used when you need to use an alternate title, such as for a navigation title, search title, link title, subtitle, or title hint.

• The new @appid-role attribute is available on <resourceid>. The default is context-sensitive-help.

• The @keyref attribute was added to all elements in the highlighting domain and the new emphasis domain.

• The @href, @format, and @scope attributes are now used consistently for linking elements.

• Several obsolete elements and attributes have been removed from DITA 2.0, including:

  • <anchor>

  • <anchorref>

  • <data-about>

  • <hasInstance>

  • <hasKind>

  • <hasNarrower>

  • <hasPart>

  • <hasRelated>

  • <longquoteref>

  • <relatedSubjects>

  • <sectiondiv>

  • <subjectRel>

  • <subjectRelHeader>

  • <subjectRelTable>

  • <subjectRole>

  • @anchorref from <map>

  • @copy-to

  • @href, @format, @type, @scope, @reftitle from <lq> (@keyref remains)

  • @locktitle

  • @longdescref

  • @mapkeyref

  • @print

  • @query

  • @specentry from <stentry>

  • @spectitle

DITA-OT 4.0

DITA-OT 4.0 added support for additional DITA 2.0 features.

• The new “split” chunk action can be used to break content into new output documents. #3942

  When the @chunk attribute is set to split on a map, branch, or map reference, each topic from the referenced source document will be rendered as an individual document.

  Note: The new chunk action is only applied if the root map has a DITA 2.0 doctype, such as:

  <!DOCTYPE map PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA 2.0 Map//EN" "map.dtd">

  If the root map uses an unversioned (or 1.x) doctype, DITA 1.3 processing will be applied, and 2.0 chunk actions will be ignored. With a 2.0 root map, any 1.3 chunk actions are ignored.

DITA-OT 4.1

DITA-OT 4.1 adds support for additional DITA 2.0 features.

• DITA 2.0 splits the programming and syntax domains (so you can use one without the other).

  The syntax diagram elements move from the programming domain to a new syntax diagram domain, which results in new class attribute tokens. All elements and content models remain the same.

  HTML5 and PDF processing has been updated for DITA-OT 4.1 to support syntax diagram elements from DITA 2.0, so that processing matches what those elements did in DITA 1.3. #4082

• DITA 2.0 removes the xNAL domain and classification domains. #4177

Note: Other new or revised features proposed for DITA 2.0 are not yet supported. Additional features will be implemented in future versions of DITA-OT as the specification evolves.

Tip: For the latest status information on DITA 2.0-related features and fixes, see the DITA 2.0 label in the GitHub issues tracker.

Related information

OASIS DITA Technical Committee